Upcoming Workshop:

Welcome to the October 2018 Edition of the Stephen Johnson Photography Newsletter.

For many reasons, looking back has occupied much of the past month. So the newsletter naturally looks back to recent work, but then stumbles into older photographs where some nice discoveries were made and good memories rekindled.— Steve

This month's View From Here column features musings over photographs from the last year or so with a few instructional pieces. We hope you find the column interesting and will consider sending us some comments.

FEATURED PRINT October 2018

I was a little surprised to see how long ago this photograph was made and with which camera. Photographs sometime stay with you in the back of your mind, then when they pop up a nice print often begs to be made. In this case, a 14 inch print, then a 20 inch print were made before I looked up the date and camera. The 14 mp Kodak Pro14n held up quite well. I was impressed.

Note: In 2005, I was still allowing the native camera file names (in this case C9SP0029, which is repeated from other times) to be used in my archives. Since 2007, I would have named the photograph…

20051113_pebblebeach_0056.DCR

…using the date, place name and sequence of photographs made at Pebble Beach that day. An ongoing question I now have to answer, is whether to go into the archives and rename files with this more useful protocol given that the original file names have been used in various ways since then.

We're offering a 9.5x14 inch print of the photograph, matted to 20 inch wide board and ready to frame for $195, framed in silver for an additional $100, wood for $250. This print at this price is offered through October 31. We'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by November 15.

LATEST NEWS:

Life Form Exhibition on display at Stephen Johnson Photography.

2018 Workshop Schedule is building into 2019 with these and other great courses coming up. See what a great experience students have had on Steve's Workshops by exploring Workshop Testimonials.

Upcoming Events & Workshops

Feedback on our work has proven critical to many of us involved in the arts. In this emerging age of digital photography, it is hard to find people knowledgeable in the technology and with a background and experience in the fine arts.

This workshop is part of a series of classes concentrating on the tools within Photoshop critical to Photographers. It is a great chance to explore digital photographic editing with Steve in his custom-built lab. Hands-on help and demonstrations of his use of editing tools, executed with restraint and finesse, will benefit all of your digital photography work. This class is designed to break down the steps to really understand the processes, and to work through difficult images.

Join us for a one-day in-depth exploration of Color Management theory and practice designed to get you comfortable with the concepts and architecture of color management and build practical experience methods for using profiles for monitor display and in printing. Monitor calibration and print profiles will be explained and you will have hands-on experience making both.

Give tangible physical form to your photographs and create the only lasting form of your work, fine-art prints, as beautiful hand-made renderings.

This workshop focuses exclusively on improving your fine-art digital printing in our fully-equipped Digital Lab, primarily using Epson inkjet printers. Concentration will be on inkjet printing with color pigments and black/gray ink combinations on coated and rag papers. Learn from the digital pioneer how he obtains his impressive results during four days of lectures, printing, and feedback in the studio.

Marin Photography Club would like to invite you to be a presenter at their Education Night, Monday, May 13, 2019.

Steve will discuss his exhibition of new prints from over 50 years of Space Photography is joining the current Life Form Exhibition for a mind-blowing journey from the living world close-up to the depths of space. The Space Exhibit evolved out of Steve’s longterm interest in the space program and views offered of the heavens and by spacecraft far away. The concentration on the exotic form of the living world of the Life Form work inspired this expressive look at the wonders of the very large and distant in this print exploration of photographs Steve had been gathering for years.

A two-day digital photography workshop exploring San Francisco Bay Area Lighthouses and the vistas surrounding them. We'll spend time at Pigeon Point on the San Mateo coast, the Montara Lighthouse and Hostel, Fort Point with its spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Point Bonita Lighthouse on the Marin Headlands.

This full-week photography workshop is an intense immersion into digital photography with one of its pioneers. In five days you will go from perhaps not even understanding what a RAW file is, to making well-crafted and thoughtful prints.

Since 1979 I have led winter photography workshops to Death Valley. I keep returning to this desert because there is a magic here, a quiet and vast expanse of sensual and strange earthworks, remarkable in color, resting under the soft winter light of January.

We will spend our first half day preparing for our outings. Topics covered will be optimal digital camera use in a variety of formats, file size and printing considerations. We will open files, review success, constantly going back in the field putting into practice lessons learned.

Jan 18, 2020 – Jan 21, 2020

Custom Workshop Scheduling: We have set up polls for recently requested workshops to see who might be interested and able to make some dates:

With all of our busy schedules and limited budgets, destination workshops or classes become a challenge, but many of you still have questions you need answered, or feedback on some new work. We want to remind you of our Virtual Online Consulting Program. This service allows all of you out there around the globe to consult online live with Steve on technical, aesthetic and workflow issues using Skype and your webcam.

We hope you can come by the gallery and see the original prints in the new Life Form Gallery, and the Exquisite Earth exhibition with its accompanying very special Exquisite Earth Portfolio 1. We invite you to join us on a workshop, rent lab space, or just say hello and let us know what you are up to photographically and what you might like to see us offer. We value your input.

NEW PHOTOGRAPH

Pebble Beach and Pt. Lobos are home to some of the most evocative and sensuous rock formations I've seen. In soft light, the sensuality is even more profound. This one popped out as I was looking through the archives.

THE VIEW FROM HERE
by Stephen Johnson

In the Studio, Not on the Road

Every year when Canon's EOL Contract renewal comes around, Canon asks us to submit photographs for them to consider including in their marketing efforts. This always prompts me to look back since the last request to see what I've been up to. Days naturally have a way of filling up the mind with the recent, and I am sometimes surprised by the last year or so of images.

Dolphin in Sunset Reflection. Pacifica, CA. 2017Canon 5Dsr

Washington Park Arboretum. Seattle, WA. 2017Canon 5DSr.

As I explore, occasionally I find the spectacular. The more I wander, the more I see. But much more often I see a far more subtle world, where slowing down and bringing craft to what I see produces a far quieter view of this earth. I like that idea, and the portrait of the earth that emerges.

Where my work might fit into the pantheon of "significant" photographs has to be ignored when I photograph. I need to be present where I am, not bringing other aspirations. Not that I am fully present anywhere or anytime, my mind is always churning. But the best of what I do is when I am to concentrate on the scene before me, feeling the seduction of its beauty.

The act of trying to craft a photograph is certainly about light, but it is also about design, sensitivity to seeing, listening, tasting the air and feeling the breeze. It is about caring about the life in view and the earth giving that life. At its best, the act of photographing is an act of passion.

Mostly without drama, my most precious photographic experiences are about the slow walk on the earth, my heart taking in the quiet wonder, hearing my breathing. Sometimes I can feel my heartbeat, and feel so deeply grateful to be on this blue oasis of water and life.

I photograph to dwell in that rush of emotions. And for so many other reasons––the sheer pleasure of seeing.

The magnificence of a twisted tree, the grace of another's branched arms, the velvet of the spongy moss. All of these qualities move me. Make me love.

Imagining a black and white or color image is very different. Why does a black and white photograph seem more formal to me? It may seem more studied, and sometimes is. Stripped of casual color, we do seem to be saying, "here, look, the form and design matter." I suppose that is why I have always loved both color and black and white, one a direct celebration of natural form, the other more an act of silver design and abstraction.

Washington Park Arboretum. Seattle, WA. 2017Canon 5DSr.

The grace of a morning walk just after a rain, an unknown woods, early low light, solitude, quiet––as photographers, we relish these experiences. Our cameras might be the excuse, nudging us on, but engaging in the world is the real motivation and the real reward. I feel good about being alive most profoundly when immersed in the natural world.

A quiet natural scene might only occasionally rise to the profound, but the experiences are often profound, imbuing my life with a sense of the sacred. I seek these experiences, and hope to create photographs along the way that reach to share those appreciations.

The life I get to see along the way continues to delight and overwhelm me with its complexity and integrity. This glorious world of flora that literally helps give us life often dominates my work. My subject matter is mostly flora and geology with the blessed light from the sun. The recent Life Form work has obviously been inspired by such fasciations.

Occasionally I get to witness animals with an intimacy I also crave. I've often said that wildlife photography is hard, requiring patience, skill and luck. I don't generally think of myself as being very good at it. Occasionally luck triumphs and I even get time to call on study rather than rapid-shutter response. Mostly it is quick reaction.

Whales, birds, coyotes, and my precious friend Sandy have all been animal subjects of my photographs. Our animal friends we call our pets may be the easiest of all to portray. But the love we feel for them is hard for the photograph to rise to, particularly for viewers who don't already know our particular beloved pet. Even the word pet has long seemed peculiar to me, my dog was not mine at all, she was in my care but completely belonged to herself. Sandy on one of our countless walks along the beaches and cliffs, is one of my most precious photographs.

Sandy at Mussel Rock. Pacifica, CA. 2014.Canon Canon EOS 5D Mark III.

In going back looking for pictures of my great friend Sandy in the weeks after her passing away, I found so much other work that seems worth exploring having nothing to do with my search. The agenda of the moment, time pressures and some myopia cause so much work to be unexamined. It is both a shame and a treasure to rediscover.

I react to what I see. We all do. I've always tried to embrace the breadth of what I see, not be bound by style or current projects. I pop into a mode of current work easily, but I am often most satisfied by the unexpected out of character. Sometimes those photographs take more time to appreciate, are often missed initially.

Artist's Palette. Death Valley. 2018.Canon EOS 5DSr.

Recording human-made form is part of what I've always been fascinated by.

Intentional art is part of what I seek to see, but often I see scenes that become art and comment for what they now seem. Architectural photography has always drawn me in for its design and potential abstraction. Seeing the things we build as metaphor for our attempts to create order has long been of interest.

My project on Western Artifacts has many views of constructions we make for one reason, but become something else over time.

As I've often said, living near the sea feels sacred. If it were only for the beautiful light, it would be precious. Although the photographs are often reductive of the magic, I cannot, and should not resist trying to hold the wonderful interplay of light and sea that I get to witness.

Photographs of our loved ones is part of what has driven photography from the beginning. I think it is a fundamental part of why we all still love the medium as we do. Selfies are happening at the end of a iPhone pole all of the time. Taking the time to photgraph a nice moment in a beautiful setting remains very important to me, and I would guess, to most of us.

Desert is so often seen as harsh, a place of heat and challenge. Of course, the heat is seasonal, and there seems to me to be little challenge at all to be seduced by it's beauty.

In landscape photography, the photograph can easily pale compared to the real experience. So we study, we slow down, we consider what we see. We look for metaphor and visual summations of the scene around us. We look to distill, to abstract, to find a frame defined scene that transports some essential visual quality into the camera's memory––to stimulate our memories, our sense of connection and belonging. We photograph to witness. We photograph to belong. To quote my friend Pedro Meyer, I photograph to remember.*

Deeply loving the desert is part of the drive to offer the Death Valley in Winter workshop most years. I love inculcating an appreciation of desert in my participants. I love their delight in discovering a whole new world of possibility.

Agave Bloom. Joshua Tree National Park. 2018.Canon EOS 5DSr.

At Stephen Johnson Photography

New Panoramics

In the search for photographs of Sandy I explored the 2006 Archive. This was the year I printed "Stephen Johnson On Digital Photography" in Italy and celebrated the completion of the HP Z Series Design-jet self-profiling printer I had been working on in Barcelona. Being such a busy time, I made many photographs that jut simply got filed away and not relly looked at.

Once open, I couldn't resist looking through some of the Venice folders and came across a few panoramic work-ups that had never been stitched together. Since Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom can now stitch raw files, and still preserve their tone and color "rawness" I couldn't help but try putting a few together. As I am now set up for almost automatic proof printing for my Space print project, I also printed them out on the Canon Pro4000 printer.

Venice Panoramic. 2006.Kodak 14n Pro.

Venice Panoramic. 2006.Kodak 14n Pro.

My history and interest in panoramics goes way back to seeing the first digital panoramics from the Viking Lander on Mars in 1976. In the digital age I contracted with Apple to do work on their QTVR Project in 1995 at the same time as I was working with Michael Collette on the panoramic capabilities of the 4x5 Betterlight Scanning Back. I documented some of the story in my "Photography's Bleeding Edge" in the 2006 book "Stephen Johnson On Digital Photography."

Current Exhibition

Life Form opened in the Main Gallery at Stephen Johnson Photography on July 21. We have had many visitors come by the gallery since the opening. Many have then joined workshops and certainly helped build community. Please come see the show. Pass the word.

Seeking Good Venues for Life Form

We are seeking good venues to show this work. The Life Form Series is now available for museum and gallery exhibition after December 2018.

Parks Project Poster Bundles

I've decided to bundle some of my National Parks Project Collector posters together for a special price, 6 for $50. This series was created to celebrate photography's evolution into a digital media with Stephen Johnson's all digital "With a New Eye: The Digital National Parks Project."

Next Studio Workshop

Next Field Workshop

Print Mentor Program

Many of my mentoring students have wanted help with their printing, often to make sure they can produce a specific print. Consequently, I am starting a Print Mentoring Program that sets up a 2 hour time slot and the production of a finished print, all with the tutorial video of how we did it together. Prints can be up to 16x20 and on either Hahnemühle Museum Etching or Photo Rag Pearl paper. Fee is $500. Email for more information and to set up times.

Free and For Sale

Free Stuff (a few items still left)

Last summer we replaced the Epson 2400s in our lab with their new P600s and consequently have some printers to seed to photographers in need. We were also given some Epson Canvas to share. These are available for pick-up to those of you on my mailing list. Let me know of your interest. I do want to spread them out among a few people.

We've had a few takers, but more are left. Take Advantage.

Epson Canvas Rolls 17 inch

1 Epson 2400 printer left

Equipment for Sale

The EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM is a lightweight, compact L Series telephoto zoom lens with Image Stabilizer. The optical Image Stabilization in the EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens provides up to an incredible four stops of shake correction-a first for Canon IS lenses. The use of fluorite UD lens elements provides excellent optical performance in terms of resolution and contrast. These features, together with its water-and dust-proof construction, provide both the performance and portability to meet user demands.

EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM. $600. I am selling this pristine 1 year old lens as I have replaced it with the new version II.

Featured Products

New Life Form Folio

The Life Form Folio

As we are premiering the Life Form Exhibition, I wanted to have a collectible item and record of the show prior to the full book I plan. So, now available is the 36 page 11x17 wire bound book, 5 years of work from 2013 to 2018 exploring these magnificent lives.

New Exquisite Earth Exhibition Catalog

Page 41

page 13

The Exquisite Earth Exhibition Catalog

As I've been on a roll on fixing bodies of work into POD books, I decided before the Exquisite Earth show could come down for new upcoming show, I wanted to create a printed record. So, now available is the 56 page 11x17 wire bound book, 5 years of work from 2005 to 2010 traveling this wondrous planet.

National Park Note cards

From "With a New Eye" Beautiful 300 line screen offset reproductions with envelopes in clear box. A great gift.

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